Arrange transport for home quarantined persons: BMC to collector

The BMC on Friday wrote to Mumbai suburban district collector to arrange 25 non-AC buses and taxis at the airport here to ferry travelers with home quarantine stamps to their desired destinations. As per the letter, signed by BMC commissioner Praveen Pardeshi, the buses will be used to shift home quarantined persons, if their number is big enough, and destination is within 300 kilometres from Mumbai, whereas taxis will be used for distances beyond 300km.

According to the letter, the cost of such transport will have to be borne by the home quarantined person. The BMC said this arrangement was required as the number of people ordered home quarantine in Mumbai was rising and number of rooms were falling short. The decision on arranging buses and taxis was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, a BMC official said, as several persons with home quarantine stamps were found using public transport to reach their destinations.

Incidentally, Western Railway de-boarded over 20 such travelers from its trains in the last two days. Earlier, Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope had said home quarantined persons should avoid public transport and travel only in private vehicles.